Iraqi troops atop Soviet-made tanks try to cross the Karun river, northeast of Khorramshahr, in Iraq, during the Iran-Iraq war, while smoke billows in the background from a the burning Abadan pipeline. On September 22, 1980, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent troops into neighbouring Iran, starting an 8 year war in which hundreds of thousands were killed. One of the deadliest wars in the Middle East, it was rooted in a border dispute between the two oil producing nations.
AFP